Muffler for drums.



J. T. SHAWAN.

' MUPILEB POR'DRUMS. APPLICATION PILED AUG. 5, 1907.

Patenced Dec. 29, 1908.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN T. SHAWAN, OF DAYTON, 0H10, ASSIGNOR TO THE RUDOLPH WURLITZER COMPANY, OF OINCINNATI, 0H10, A CORPORATION.

MUFFLER FOR DRUMS.

Patented Dec. 29, 1908.

Application file August 5, 1907. Serial No. 387,103.

T0 all whom vit may concem:

Be it known that I, JOHN T. SHAWAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Mufilers for. Drums, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying dravvings, which form part of my specification.

My invention relates to a mufiler for drums and the object of nov invention is to provide a device of simple and economical construction which may be readily applied to a drum and by the use of Which the drum may be efficiently and instantly mufiled, and when desired the mufller may with equal rapidity be cut ofi.

My improved muffler adds little or nothing to the expense of the ordinary attachments of the drum, but at the same time is always ready for use and may be manipulated in a moments time.

In the dravvings, Figure 1 is a front elevation showing m improved muffier attached to the drum; Fig. 2 is a partial vertical section of the same With the drum not mufiied; Fig. 3 is a similar view with the drum muffied; and Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the nmfiiing device on an enlarged scale, showing the mufiler in position in full lines when the drurn is not mufiied and in dotted lines when the drum is mufiled.

A is the drum cylinder, B the batter-head trame, C, the snarehead frame and D D the tension rods adapted to tighten the heads.

E E are the snares permanently attached at one side, and adapted to slide through the other side, of the snarehead frame and up alongside the drum cylinder A in the ordinary manner. The free ends of the snares are secured within a clamping frame or member F, one side of which rame is provided with an internally threaded portion f, through which passes the threaded rod G. One end of the rod G is prolonged above the batterhead frame B through an eye 9 which is secured b v screws or in any other manner to the batterhead irame. Said end of the rod G is provided with a flv-nut G for rotating it. The other end of said rod G is recluced in section at 9 which part fits loosely within an abutting block H, being secured therein by means of a pin 9 The rod G is the tension member by turning which, the snares may be tightened or slackened at Will. Said block H is pivotally secured by means of a bolt h to a lever J, which lever itself is in turn pivoted in the ears 76 of a fulcrum block K which is bolted or in any other manner secured to the frame of the snare-head of the drum.

As the preferred construction I have illustrated the block H as consisting of a main bodg portion h in which is formed the cylindrical opening through which the reduced portion g of the rod G passes, and of projecting cars 7L through which the pivotin g bolt h passes. The lever J is prelerably bifurcated in construction, having legs 7' which are of sufficient distance apart to embrace the cars h of the block H and to fit within the ears 76 of the fulcrum block K. The ears k are formed so as to be struck by the head and nut of the bolt when the device is snapped into its normal position. 'By this arrangement of the parts, I am enabled to produce a rigid construction with great economy of material.

The operation of the device is apparent from the description. The parts of the device are in normal position as indicated in Figs. 1, 2 and 4. In such case the snares are stretched tightly across the snarehead of the drum. It is to be noted that the fulcrum center of the lever J is slightly beyond the axis of the tension rod G, so that When the lever J is shifted into normal position it is looked in this position, being held there by the tension of the snares.

VVhen it is desired to mufile the drum. the lever J is simply pulled forward away from the body of the drum until the bolt h has passed a point vertically above the fulcrum of the lever, which releases the snares and muffi es the drum, with the parts in the position indicated in Fig. 3 and in dotted lines in Fig. 4. By the arrangement described, a slight pull on the end of the lever J Will muffie the drum and a gentle push Will snap it in position so as to tighten the snares.

While I have described and illustrated my preferred construction and one which I consider most efiicient for the purpose intended, I do not wish to be limited to the exact details thereof as it is apparent that these may be varied without departing from the spirit of 'my invention.

VVhat I desire to claim as new and to cover by Letters Patent is:

1. In a drum, in combination with the drum heads and the snares, the latter being fixed at one end, a olamping member in which are seoured the other ends of said snares, a tension member threaded through said clamping member and slidably mounted at one end, an abutting member to which said tension member is rotatably seoured, and a lever to WhiCli said abutting member is pivoted, said lever being fulcrumed in a plane beyond the axis of the normal position of said tension member.

2. In a drum, in oombination with the drum heads and the snares, the latter being fixed at one end, a clamping member in whioh are secured the other ends of said snares, a tension member threaded th1ough said clamping member and slidably mounted at one end, an abutting member in which said tension member is rotatably seoured, a lever to 'WhiCh said abutting member is pivoted and a fulcrum block in which said lever is journaled, the axis of said fulcrum being beyond the axis of the normal position of said tension member.

3. In a drum, in combination with the drum heads and the snares, the latter being fixed at one end, a clamping member in Which are secured the other ends of said snares, a tension member threaded through said olamping member and slidably monnted at one end, an abutting member in which said tension member is rotatably secured, a lever to which said abutting member is pivoted and a fulcrum block in whioh said lever is journaled and against Whi0h it strikes, thon brought into normal position, the axis of said fulcrum being beyond the axis of said tension member.

4. In a drum, in combination with the drum heads and snares, the snares being fixed at one end, a clamping member interniediate the planes of the drum heads in whioh the other ends of the snares are held, a tension member threaded through said olamping member, said tension member adapted to move endwise, and an arm pivotally connected at one end to said tension member at a point below the olamping member, and at the other end fulcrumed on the drum frame at a point beyond the axis of the normal position of the tension member.

5. In. a drum, in oombination With the drum heads and snares, the snares being fixed at one end, a clamping member inter mediate the planes of the drum heads in Wl1lCll the other ends of the snares are held, a tension member threaded through said olamping member, said tension member adapted to move endwise, a fnlcrum bloc]:

Secured to the drum frame with its fulorum point beyond the axis of the tension member when in its normal position and mochanism intermediate said fulcrum blook and the tension member adapted to 1otate the lower end of the tension member about said fulorum point.

6. In a drum, in oombination with the drum heads and snares, the snares being fixed at one end, a olamping member intermediate the planes of the drum heads in which the ot-her ends of the snares are held, a tension member threaded through said clamping member, said tension member being slidably seoured to the drum frame at one end and having its other end movable in a path about a point beyond the axis of its normal position and meohanism to retain said tension member in its normal position.

JOHN T. SHAVVAN.

Witnesses:

GEORGE KOUNTZ, EDWARD SMITH. 

